The Vampire Diaries - The Struggle | Page 2

he
turned back and held out a hand to her. "You're too good for my brother," he said
casually.
Elena thought of slapping the hand away, but she didn't want to touch him again.
"Tell me where he is."
"Later, possibly—for a price." He withdrew his hand, just as Elena realized that
on it he wore a ring like Stefan's: silver and lapis lazuli. Remember that, she thought
fiercely. It's important.
"My brother," he went on, "is a fool. He thinks that because you look like
Katherine you're weak and easily led like her. But he's wrong. I could feel your anger
from the other side of town. I can feel it now, a white light like the desert sun. You
have strength, Elena, even as you are. But you could be so much stronger…"
She stared at him, not understanding, not liking the change of subject. "I don't
know what you're talking about. And what has it got to do with Stefan?"
"I'm talking about Power, Elena." Suddenly, he stepped close to her, his eyes
fixed on hers, his voice soft and urgent. "You've tried everything else, and nothing
has satisfied you. You're the girl who has everything, but there's always been
something just out of your reach, something you need desperately and can't have.
That's what I'm offering you. Power. Eternal life. And feelings you've never felt
before."

She did understand then, and bile rose in her throat. She choked on horror and
repudiation. "No."
"Why not?" he whispered. "Why not try it, Elena? Be honest. Isn't there a part of
you that wants to?" His dark eyes were full of a heat and intensity that held her
transfixed, unable to look away. "I can waken things inside you that have been
sleeping all your life. You're strong enough to live in the dark, to glory in it. You can
become a queen of the shadows. Why not take that Power, Elena? Let me help you
take it."
"No," she said, wrenching her eyes away from his. She wouldn't look at him,
wouldn't let him do this to her. She wouldn't let him make her forget… make her
forget…
"It's the ultimate secret, Elena," he said. His voice was as caressing as the
fingertips that touched her throat. "You'll be happy as never before."
There was something terribly important she must remember. He was using Power
to make her forget it, but she wouldn't let him make her forget…
"And we'll be together, you and I." The cool fingertips stroked the side of her
neck, slipping under the collar of her sweater. "Just the two of us, forever."
There was a sudden twinge of pain as his fingers brushed two tiny wounds in the
flesh of her neck, and her mind cleared.
Make her forget… Stefan.
That was what he wanted to drive out of her mind. The memory of Stefan, of his
green eyes and his smile that always had sadness lurking behind it. But nothing could
force Stefan out of her thoughts now, not after what they had shared. She pulled
away from Damon, knocking those cool fingertips aside. She looked straight at him.
"I've already found what I want," she said brutally. "And who I want to be with
forever."
Blackness welled up in his eyes, a cold rage that swept through the air between
them. Looking into those eyes, Elena thought of a cobra about to strike.
"Don't you be as stupid as my brother is," he said. "Or I might have to treat you
the same way."
She was frightened now. She couldn't help it, not with cold pouring into her,
chilling her bones. The wind was picking up again, the branches tossing. "Tell me
where he is, Damon."
"At this moment? I don't know. Can't you stop thinking about him for an instant?"
"No!" She shuddered, hair lashing about her face again.
"And that's your final answer, today? Be very sure you want to play this game
with me, Elena. The consequences are nothing to laugh about."
"I am sure." She had to stop him before he got to her again. "And you can't
intimidate me, Damon, or haven't you noticed? The moment Stefan told me what you

were, what you'd done, you lost any power you might have had over me. I hate you.
You disgust me. And there's nothing you can do to me, not any more."
His face altered, the sensuousness twisting and freezing, becoming cruel and
bitterly hard. He laughed, but this laugh went on and on. "Nothing?" he said. "I can
do anything to you, and to the ones you love. You have no idea, Elena, of what I
can do. But you'll learn."
He stepped back, and the wind cut through Elena like a knife. Her vision seemed
to be blurring; it was as if flecks of brightness filled the air in front of her eyes.
"Winter is coming, Elena," he said, and his voice was clear and chilling even over
the howl of the wind. "An unforgiving season. Before it comes, you'll have learned
what I can and can't do. Before winter is here, you'll have joined me. You'll be
mine."
The swirling whiteness was blinding